Tag Archives: oviraptor yarn

A Bit of an Hiatus

Posted on July 25, 2012 by | Comments Off on A Bit of an Hiatus

Some of you might have (or are bound to now) notice that I put my etsy shop on vacation this morning.

I am not taking it down.

I am not dissolving my business.

I am not even going to quit selling at the farmers market.

I just have not had the time or the peace of mind to put the energy into the online shop that it needs. I make a sale, then forget about it until it’s the last available shipping day. This has happened with every sale this month. I could understand if I weren’t making sales, but I am, and then I forget about them. And I don’t think that is fair to anyone, especially the folks waiting for their fun, new yarn. So I put my shop on vacation until November 5th, 2012.

This gives me time to do three things:
1. Settle fully in to my new job
2. Plan the 3rd Annual Fiber Arts Bazaar (I will settle for nothing less than a fabulous.)
3. Build up some hand-made inventory and replenish sock yarn, etc for the holiday season.

Things I am not taking a break from:
1. Blogging and micro blogging. Keep checking back here and on facebook and twitter
2. Knitting and spinning and maybe weaving if I ever get off my arse and get my loom back out
3. Dyeing
4. Selling locally

So there you have it, the big news.

In other realms, I have decided what my knitting challenge during the Olympics is going to be! (see how I cleverly worked my way around the name controversy there?)

I am going to make Motheye by Anne Hanson out of my red laceweight yarn. And I am going to finish this one! (Some of you might have noticed that I have pulled out every laceweight project I have ever started)

What’s your Olympic challenge?

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In the Works Wed–Wait! What?

Posted on April 26, 2012 by | Comments Off on In the Works Wed–Wait! What?

This is what happens when I try to do a regular, weekly segment here on the blog. I plan and plan (in my head where all the most reliable planning is done dontcha know) about what I want to include in the “In the Works Wednesday” post; what project to talk about and how cool and interesting and squishy they have been.

This morning before work, I was making a to-do list for the open time I had later on in the day. As I write “photograph new yarn for etsy” I think, “I could go ahead and photograph all my projects on the needles, because Wednesday is coming up pretty quick and I have so much free time on Thursdays–Gah! It’s Thursday!” Thursday, you know, the day after Wednesday.

I am not sure how I missed Wednesday, even though I did all of my other normal Wednesday things (except blog!)

Here I am a day late, hoping you enjoy this post just as much as you might have yesterday when the alliteration still made it a cool day to post it. I can’t even think of any cool Thursday alliteration, so before I start feeling down on my brain power, because clearly I haven’t been overwhelmed by rejoining the workforce or anything, let us move on to woolier subjects.


I started knitting Brock’s birthday socks. You will be able to tell I have been running on low bandwidth when you check out the rest of my projects–they haven’t made much progress, but in a week with very little knitting time I have managed to knit most of a large, gentleman’s sock. I excel at stockinette in the round.

The pattern is just a plain top-down sock with a heal flap, pretty much the only sock pattern I ever use because I don’t need a pattern to knit it anymore. (Locals, this is the sock I will teach when I finally get around to scheduling some more knitting classes. Stay tuned.) The yarn is “French Roast” from Swift Fiber Studio in 75/25 BFL/Nylon.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

Next up I have a tangle of a super secret surprise project that may or may not be a pattern in the making that is currently kicking my butt.

Can you tell what it is yet?

The yarn is Pteranodon Worsted in Cretaceous Grape. There is still one skein left in the shop if the color catches your fancy.

Then, I have the lace weight cardigan. And I swear I have been knitting on it. I have actually added two whole inches to the length!

Not that you can really tell.

How are your projects going?

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In The Works Wednesday

Posted on April 18, 2012 by | Comments Off on In The Works Wednesday


On Sunday, I cast on Starling out of oviraptor yarn. I was looking for a project that would stick to my needles. One that would take awhile to finish, be mostly mindless, but still be engaging to work on. Then Cecily Glowik MacDonald posted Starling to her blog last week and I knew what that project would be. I cast on in white for two reason. First, I couldn’t decide what color to use. Second, once I purchased the pattern, I didn’t want to wait the couple of days it takes to dye and dry two skeins of lace weight yarn. I figure, if I don’t like a white cardigan, I can always dye it fire engine red or something later. I am really enjoying knitting with this yarn. It’s making a lovely fabric. I got gauge with my first swatch, which, when washed, bloomed beautifully. I can’t wait to get a little more heft onto this fabric. Of course, after three days of admittedly light knitting, I only have about four inches of fabric.

The knitting has been light because I have been warping and weaving on my second rigid heddle loom project.


I started weaving this last night in class. We’re learning how to use pick up sticks and pattern sticks. My brain is still wrapping around the whys and wherefors, but it’s coming along. I didn’t want to stop when class was over last night, and this is the first thing I will be coming back to when all my work for the day is done, which admittedly might be kind of late…

What are you working on?

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Lace Dreams

Posted on February 27, 2012 by | Comments Off on Lace Dreams

Back in 2009 when I was first learning to knit, part of my self-imposed knitting initiation was to read the entire backlog of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s blog, The Yarn Harlot. It was educational and inspiring as a new knitter to have such an intimate view into the life of a rather more experienced knitter. I realize this is hardly an original sentiment, but one of the things that really got my fantasy going was reading about the birth of the Snowdrop Shawl. I would have dreams about knitting lace like that when I was still struggling with understanding the construction of a hat. I knew the snow drops were completely out of my league, but that didn’t stop the dreams. I dreamed I was knitting it, I dreamed I was wearing it, I dreamed of it elegantly draped over the back of my sofa.

I found a lacy beret that was closer to my level and knit that instead. It seemed to take the edge off.

Then two years and some time passed.

In knitting class the other day, I was helping a student start a shawlette (she was using a gorgeous buttery yellow alpaca yarn) and we were talking about knitting shawls and the lace weight yarn I sell in my shop. I admitted that while I had swatched a bit with the yarn before I started selling it, I had never actually knit with anything in lace weight yarn ever. I actually said these words, “I’d love to knit a nice big lace shawl, but the right one just hasn’t found me yet.”

What a fickle knitter I am! I had completely forgotten about the Snowdrop shawl. It wasn’t until yesterday when I moved a hank of lace weight yarn from the drying rack to the “to-be-photographed pile” that I remembered about that shawl so long ago. Before I knew it, I was winding a ball of lace yarn and the pattern was printed and tempting me to cast on.


I didn’t make too much progress what with attempting to remain a responsible adult and all that rubbish. Though, as I knit each row and understand the movement of the yarn more fully, the more I want to work on it, responsibility be damned.

Of course, I noticed on the ravelry forums today that Knit Knit Cafe Podcast has announced their new knit along, and it’s a shawlette knit out of fingering weight yarn, and I know I have the perfect little yellow skein of sock yarn in the back somewhere. So I might get to work on that as soon as I get the other thing off my spare pare of size 6 needles. It looks like it’s going to be a lacy spring.

In the meantime, my shawl is Raveled here
and knit out of Oviraptor Lace Weight Yarn
on size US 6 needles.

What are your knitting plans for spring?

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